1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed generally to robotics and specifically to a highly autonomous, self-moving system capable of flexibly reacting to impediments in hazardous environments.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Robots currently perform a great variety of activities. For example, such robotic activities include installing electronic components on electronic assemblies or welding chassis elements in automobiles. A property that most robots share is that they are permanently mounted at one location. It is desirable in some applications, however, to provide the robots with a certain mobility. For example, these are job areas in which personal hazards are to be avoided or job areas which are inaccessible or dangerous for humans. For example, such areas can be the insides of pipelines, etc.
Robots having on-board sensors (for example, video cameras) and tools are particularly useful for service (inspection and repair) of pipes (power plants, chemical plants, wastewater, drinking water, pipelines) and shafts (air shafts, waste disposal systems). In addition to the data transmission and the energy supply (cable or battery), the locomotion of the robot represents a principal problem. There are a great variety of suggested approaches for resolving this problem. Most of these robots for servicing pipes use driven pressure rollers or caterpillars that are supported against the pipe walls with spring power. Tubular arcs having a radius greater than 1.5 times the diameter of the tube can be traveled with this known method. "T" and "Y" branchings, highly contaminated or damaged pipes, great modifications of the pipe cross section, as well as arbitrarily shaped cavities cannot be overcome with these known devices.
A further approach for resolving this locomotion problem has two members with hydraulic cylinders spread against the walls in alternation which execute a caterpillar-like locomotion. However, this approach does not overcome the afore-mentioned impediments. For resolving the locomotion problem in air shafts, the frame fitting into the shaft was previously inserted with the assistance of a fiberglass rod. Further advancement after a few curves and after about 50 meters was thereby impossible. A targeted navigation for overcoming branchings was not possible in any of the proposals.